Family Portrait
Raphael x Gwen
Summary: Raphael decides it's time to have a paiting depicting all the members of his family. Sibling shennanigans ensue.
A/N: Ok, this is most likely the last thing I’ll write in this AU(which i'm calling the betrayer AU) bc I want to write about Gwen actually being Tav. Also, for the sake of this, imagine that bc of the crown, Raphael’s immediate family (wife + children and himself) are immortal.
Read on AO3
Read Betrayer here
The walls of the Raphael household were mostly decorated with portraits of himself. Over time, he had commissioned more paitings, bu now, some included other familiar faces.
In his bedroom, there was quite a large painting of himself alongside his wife, Gwendolyn, both dresses as they did on their wedding day. Around that were eight small individual portraits of each of their children when they were young.
Gwendolyn and Raphael’s offspring were all tieflings, whose skin tones varied amongst reds and pinks, although their youngest, Mydul, had a more purple-ish color, much like his grandmother. Some had blue eyes, red eyes, the same eyes of his father and a few had mismatched ones. Their hair varied through different shades of purple and black, and all were graced with four horns.
Now that all of them were older, Raphael decided it was time for a family portrait. He commissioned his most prestigious artist and he sent a message to his children, all spread across the realms, who were quick to answer to their father’s call.
Soon, the whole family was in the throne room, Raphael and Gwendolyn sat on their seats, him wearing the crown and her wearing the tiara. Some of their offspring were standing while others had arranged a loveseat to sit upon.
The place was silent, the only sound heard was of the brushstrokes of the artist. Only a few minutes had passed when one of their sons voiced his displeasure.
“This is extremely boring.” Aldric huffed. “I had to cancel one of my parties to just…stand here and do nothing.” Out of all his siblings, Aldric was the most extroverted, often spending his time in social events, charming and fooling poor mortals too entranced by his lavish looks.
His older brother, Basil, and his sister, Tyria, exchanged looks. The two of them were always more inclined towards warring and fighting and although Tyria was a good dancer, neither of them were particularly fond of spending the time they could be training, on senseless parties.
Basil chuckled. “It seems that the little prince would rather be inside another random woman than be with his family.”
Aldric shot him an angry look. Although it was true that he liked to whore around, he’d rather not have their parents know of that.
“Basil!” Gwendolyn cried out. “Do not be crude.” She could feel that it would be a long day.
“Apologies, mother.” He said and shut up.
The quietness didn’t last long, and soon, Myrdul spoke. “Father, how long will this take?”
The youngest of the eight, Myrdul spent most of his time in the Prime Material Plane, having become an adventurer, just like his mother once was. Wasting an afternoon of this was not his idea of fun.
“It will take as long as it needs to.” Natahlia, the oldest, replied. She stood in between their parent’s seats, one hand on Raphael’s shoulder. He didn’t reply, simply nodding at his daughter’s words. He had raised her well.
“Fret not, brother, you’re not the only one suffering.” Mathilda spoke up. Of all of Raphael’s daughters, she was considered to be the most beautiful by the other lords of his court, which is why, often, Mathilda would spy on them, play niceties while gaining information to pass on to her father.
“Mathilda, I know very well that your schedule was cleared for the day.” Gwendolyn spoke. Her daughter turned to look at her.
“Pardon me, mother, but this is very tiring.” She sighed. “Spending hours sitting or standing still, doing nothing.” Mathilda looked over to her two of her siblings, Kyron and Brynn, who were sitting next to each other. “In fact, I think the only ones here enjoying themselves are the resident bookworms.”
It was true that Brynn was the shyest of the family, spending most of her time in her father’s library, and while Kyron did well during social gatherings, he much preferred the peace and quiet of reading a book.
Kyron rolled his eyes in annoyance. “It’s not my fault you’d rather be throwing yourself at every lord you see.” He snapped at his sister.
Mathilda stood up, angry. “How dare you?! I do it for father!”
“Both of you stop acting like small children!” Natahlia said. “Mathilda, sit down, and Kyron, keep it to yourself.”
“And why can you boss us around? Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean anything.” Mathilda challenged.
Natahlia crossed her arms and was about to reply when -
“All of you, shut up!” Brynn, who was usually as quiet as a mouse, stood up and shouted. “Stop whining and complaining. By the Nine Hells, no one is going to die because you spent a few hours of your oh so precious day with your family!” She then addressed her parents. “Forgive me, father, mother.”
Gwendolyn smiled at her. “You have done well, Brynn.” She then turned her attention to the rest of her children. “You’ve all heard your sister. Enjoy moments like this, when we are all together. You never know when you can lose it all.”
All, except for Raphael, looked down, almost ashamed. They settled down back to their places.
Finally, the Archdevil Supreme spoke. “Do not forget we still have dinner after this. I have raised all of you better than this, and I expect good behavior.”
A series of grunts and “yes, father” was heard. Gwendolyn chuckled and held her husband’s hand. Casting Message, she whispered to him. “Despite everything, I’m proud of them. Of how well they turned out.”
Raphael looked at her and replied. “I am too.”
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Going back to the Vatican stone ask,
What would the other archangels think of it?
And the mental image of V1 trying to identify what mini fossils Gabe has like how people try and find constalations on freckles so cute! Just V1 being like a little kid with dinosaurs is just so silly I love it.
I imagine a conversation would go something like this:
V1: "YOU GOT A TRILOBITE! :D"
Gabriel: w h a t
(see this!)
i think the only archangel that wouldn't be surprised by the development would be uriel - there was a lot of information on hell that was censored, including the initial set of fallen angels, but subsequent falls weren't so thoroughly stricken from the record. so he does have a bit of insight into their biology, and he would be aware especially of surface level changes (this information was made available as threats essentially, so show that angels become no better than hell mass when they fall). nevertheless he finds it interesting, as i doubt he was allowed to know all of the specifics, and he can instantly see the stone that makes up gabriel's body is far different in its composition from hell mass. he would absolutely participate with v1's identification process, but because of uriel's vast knowledge, he would almost instantly know each and every fossil - so he lets v1 guess based on its research, and then lets it know if it's correct (gabe feels like a museum exhibit)
raphael, truthfully, is a little put off by it though he does feel guilt for that. i just really think he's instinctively fearful of hell entities since he was never really meant to interact with them nor has he ever really had to, so gabriel's stone skin is a bit shocking for him. he can see an aesthetic appeal to it and i think he would slowly come around on it, but at first it's just too strange (plus he believes it seems a bit painful, given how gabriel's cracked the stone around his joints). michael is, predictably, disgusted by the demonic form in all its guises, and he greatly pities gabriel having to be anything like them. however...he also struggles feeling paradoxical envy at gabriel's successful fall, and there's something very appealing about a marble-like casing to someone whose skin is falling away more every day. in some ways, to him, gabriel's physical form has become incorruptible, preserved in stone and ice, and as much as he consciously rejects it, he actually wishes he could have that. he sees what falling fully looks like now, and he prefers it to this (especially observing gabe up close to see all of god's little creatures inset into his skin....if only he had gotten it right.)
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